The Secret Silk Dress

I’d found it at Cira; used the money from six months of chores to pay for it. A dress, to tuck in a drawer—to only pull out when I was alone—to imagine who I could have been. Who I should have been, but wasn’t. A secret so unutterable I’d never said it, not even to myself. My mouth fell open, helpless to answer her.

Her dark eyes flashed. Her look said she knew—that maybe she’d always known, but she needed me to say it. When I didn’t, she draped the dress, fold on fold onto her lap. The fingers of one hand caressed the silk. “A beautiful dress. For a beautiful girl,” she said.

23 Comments

Wow – the story unfolded with interest.
I clicked the link to read about
Michelle Suárez Bértora – looked at some Pictures – and then came back.
And when I did – I reread your story and “got even more” especially the ending part! Well done

And k –
Please tell J I cannot leave a comment on his recent post! I sometimes have a
Glitch in his blog but this time it keeps asking me to log in but I am – and when I do it asks again/ I will try again tomorrow thx

You’ve written an excellent story, Karen, introducing so many of the elements of being trans – the secrecy, the difficulty in admitting the truth, the lack of words to say out loud what you feel. Kudos!
Thank you, too, for the link to the biography of Michelle Suarez Bertola. How lucky she was to have such a supportive mother – your story captures that well too.
I’m delighted you wrote on this topic. It’s good when cis-allies write such positive things about our experience.